I, Wolf
by Dream Kitten
Summary: The Strand of Fate breaks and Cloud Strife's life is forever altered. And, surprisingly, Aerith isn't the one to blame this time. Vincent is. And whoever sold him that bottle of JäegerMäster. Basically a story of what happens to poor hapless mortals when deities get drunk.
1. Oh, Genesis of the New World

_Author's note: So, here I am, all alone during spring break with takeaway pizza, a six pack (of beer, not abs unfortunately) and a laptop. My Beta is sick and running a fever, all of my friends have disappeared and my parents ran away somewhere on the other sides of the country from each other._

 _Then I pull out my notes and see this idea scribbled on a piece of loose paper. So I say, "Whatevs', not like I have anything better to do" and decide to type it up._

 _Credit where credit is due, this was originally inspired by **SubZeroChimera's "It's raining WHAT!"**. Go check her out and try not to burst your spleen laughing. You have been warned._

* * *

Omega was eternal. A final WEAPON at the Creator's disposal, should every other failsafe prove to be faulty. It was also sentient, a trait only one other WEAPON could boast. They never got along very well with Chaos. He was lower ranked than Them, Their squire as the Ancients had called him. But if there was one thing They had learned in all of their billions and billions of eons of existence, it was that spending eternity alone was… lonely.

And awfully boring, but They weren't supposed to know what boredom was.

Privately, Omega considered Chaos lucky, to have been released from his crystal prison. He may be imprisoned in flesh now, but in flesh that allowed him to walk, to run and fly and see the world they were protecting. They knew nothing of envy, but They imagined this would feel similar.

It was exactly that loneliness and boredom that made Omega, when Chaos unexpectedly visited almost a thousand years after their last crisis, tuned into the Lifestream and listen to him.

"That idiotic bag of bones!" He hadn't even noticed his sibling's arrival; he was so busy sprouting foul language. "When he heals enough to regain his conscience I'm gonna shove him down right back to that basement! How dare he get drunk and try to fall off a cliff!? Why I ought to-"

"Chaos?" Omega finally asked. "Why do you use such crude words?"

"Oh, hey. Didn't see you there." Chaos grumbled but regained some of his politeness. "You know my Host, right? Well once every year he goes to kill his brain cells with this foul smelling poison and mope about his lost love. Except this time he tried to get himself killed by jumping down the cliffs outside my former prison. Don't worry, I'll return to him soon, when his spine and skull mend enough."

Omega listened tentatively. And considered carefully. "What is it like having a living prison?"

Chaos snorted. "Better than having an unmoving one, but that one's occupied. And by that wretched woman my Host is still moping about, no less. Even when her body is nothing but an empty husk she still manages to screw him over."

"Better?" Omega prompted when Chaos went off on a wrong tangent. "How?"

"Well, I get to stretch my wings pretty often. Go hunting sometimes, see the world change… Especially now it has recovered from that artificial leech from millennia ago. The amount of land covered with deserts has almost disappeared. Humans are quite few in number but other species are flourishing, so there's plenty of game around."

"That sounds wonderful." They would have sighed if they had a corporeal throat to do it with. "I suppose it makes sense; you have always been favored by our Creator."

Chaos turned to look at where his sibling's voice was coming from. Omega had never had a real body. Their job was to gather every piece of life on the current planet they were occupying, and then follow Chaos on their path through the Cosmos. Chaos would choose a planet and Omega would build the life anew on it. But once that was done Omega went back to sleep, never seeing what it was exactly They had created and nourished.

Perhaps it was a bit of his Host's sentimentality seeping in and mingling after over millennia of sharing the same body, but Chaos pitied Omega. They had been doing Their duty for so long and yet for absolutely no reward. At least Chaos was let out every once in a while, when their Creator felt the need to change something on the surface in order to tip the Scales of Balance back into equilibrium. Omega had never even had that.

Suddenly he had an idea. While Omega was different from him, they were similar enough that They should be able to share the body of a corporeal creature. And Chaos had just the right body in mind. He grinned and went swimming in one of infinite paths of the Lifestream.

"Follow me, I think I can do something about that." Something that Omega wouldn't name curiosity made Them follow Chaos. Eventually they came to Their younger sibling's former prison, which was, strangely enough, holding another empty prison, this one made of flesh.

"See that girl down there?" Chaos pointed. "Try to get into it. My own Host has healed enough for me to get back, so I better go now so I can wait for you outside. Don't take too long." And with that Chaos swam away.

Omega was conflicted. They wanted to experience what Chaos was offering, even if They risked the wrath of their Creator. So They gathered Their vast conscience and wrapped around Themselves, constricting and squeezing until they were tiny enough to fit into the foreign flesh. Then, slowly, drop by drop, They poured Themselves into this tiny prison that promised far more freedom than the one Creator gave them.

And suddenly, Omega had eyes. They snapped them open, and They had _lungs,_ to breathe air with, and _throat,_ to speak to the whole world with, and-

"Whoa, easy there, corporeality can pack a punch the first time you try it." They realized they were _looking up_ into Their brother's face. And it wasn't just the blurry mass of colors and shapes like it were in the Lifestream, it was real and _touchable_. They confirmed that by reaching Their new _hand_ to his face, feeling the _contours_ and **textures** and _**shape**_. They smiled with Their _mouth_ and Their _eyes_.

Suddenly Chaos' own hand gently pried Their hand from his face. "I know it's fascinating for you, but you doing that with the face you're wearing right now is doing a number on my Host's sanity, and there's not a lot of it in the first place."

They blinked. Chaos was not alone in his prison? "…not …alone?" Their voice shook, as They were unsure how to use it properly yet. But Chaos got what They were trying to convey.

"Yeah, there's my Host, which you don't have since the original owner of your body left almost a millennia ago. And there's three other demons. But I'm the boss, and they know it." Chaos grinned. Omega tried to imitate him but it felt stiff somehow. They still didn't have good control of it.

"Come on, can you walk? Just to warn you, you can't float in this shape, and balancing on only two legs can be a nightmare. Here, I'll help you up." Chaos wrapped one of Their _arms_ around his shoulders and one of his arms around Their _waist._ He pulled Them to their _feet_ and started _walking_. It took a few tries but eventually They managed to walk properly, only slightly leaning on Chaos as they did.

As They walked outside they suddenly felt _sunshine_ , and saw the _sky_ , and the _rocks_ , and the _waterfall_ and _**everything**_ **was so** **overwhelmingly** lovely and **wonderful and-**

"Like it, don't you?" Chaos grinned in superiority when he saw utter amazement on Omega's borrowed face. Finally, for once he was the one in charge here instead of being the eternal servant. He really liked that feeling. "Come on, I'll show you around, we have a lot of ground to cover." He gently coaxed his Sibling to let him carry Them bridal style so he could fly them to the ground. Once there he set Them back on Their feet and hooked his arm around Their waist to support Them in Their walk.

The Planet had done a full spin on its axis by the time they returned to the crystal cave, at Omega's insistence. While the experience had been absolutely wonderful she (and it was _she_ now, for this prison was once a _she_ and Omega wished to honor it) had never been separated from the Lifestream for this long. So they returned to the cave, amongst the physical manifestation of the Lifestream where she could tap into it better.

But there, near the crystal pillar was something unfamiliar. Omega bent to pick it up. Ah, she knew what it was! A bottle, it was called nowadays, and with something etched onto its surface. Omega still wasn't very skilled at reading this new language as she was at speaking it, but she knew the individual letters. She could make out the word written.

"J." one finger followed the string of symbols. "A? What strange dots… E. G. E. R. M. A. S.T. E.R. Ah, Jaegermaster." Strange, she didn't know that word. But bottles were used to contain water and her throat had been feeling a little dry. What was the word? Parched? Yes, she was parched.

She brought the nearly full green bottle to her lips and drank all of its contents. It burned her throat strangely. Perhaps there was Lifestream mixed into it? If so, then it was even better she drank it all. She came to sit down against the pillar and closed her eyes, leaning out into the Lifestream but keeping a firm hold on her new prison. No, Chaos said she should call it a body.

And so Omega was in the Lifestream, but she felt almost as if she was swaying rather than floating in it. She couldn't control the way she flowed through it properly, when it should have been second nature. She fought against it but to no avail, the river of Life carrying her down paths she never traversed.

Finally she found herself stop inside the _Chamber of Past Souls_. She knew about it, of course, it was where the strings of the Lifestream each represented a soul that had shaped the history of Gaia. The thicker the strand, the more influence it had. Omega noticed a particularly thick one and, feeling what she now dared to call curiosity, she swam over to it and touched it. Instantly before her mind's eyes appeared a young man with rays of sun in his hair and the sky above reflected in his eyes.

Ah, she remembered that one. He was the one of the humans that had awoken her the first time, and had helped with the second. And he had erased the disease that had been plaguing her for almost two millennia. She lightly stroked it, feeling grateful for what this soul had done for her.

But then something unexpected happened. Something that should have been impossible without a corporeal form, but Omega remembered too late that she was still connected to her borrowed body. There was a sudden and strong constriction in the middle of her abdomen, behind her belly muscles, something so powerful it forced the air out of her lungs and made her entire ribcage fold in on itself and her entire body to give one powerful twitch.

Later she found out it was called a 'hiccup'.

But the string she had been touching at the time didn't know it was an accident. As Omega, she had the power, if not the right, to sever and connect the strings of fate and past to her liking. But it was forbidden because if even one string was broken far too many other strings that depended on it would unravel as well and the time required for the failsafes to right them was far too long.

The string felt the twitch of her body, and no matter how thick and sturdy it had been it broke like a hair that was tugged too harshly.

She could only watch in horror as one half of the string flailed for a few seconds and then disappeared, assimilated into the rest of the Life material. The other half of the string flailed as well and it had already started dispersing when it suddenly touched another, tiny string and wrapped its unraveling parts around it, managing to stay solid. But every single strand that depended on the other, and to Omega's horror, longer half of the string now flailed helplessly as well, and soon it created a shaking mess.

Omega did the only thing she could: she stopped it. Before every single strand tangled into a mess she couldn't fix she activated the first failsafe: every string was now frozen except the one that had broken. Now it had to grow yet again to its former size and endurance and travel an at least similar path to reconnect with the others. Which, considering it was a strand and it no longer had the path set out for it, was nearly impossible.

Suddenly she was yanked back into corporeality by her brother. He was looking at her with an emotion she managed to classify as fear. "Omega, what in the name of Our Creator have you done?!"

She clasped her hands in front of her mouth, brushing her lips with her thumbs in guilt. "Something very bad."

"Where?" Chaos sounded like someone was strangling him.

"In the Chamber of Past Souls."

Chaos froze. Then he let go of Omega's shoulders and sat down next to her in utter shock.

"Which strand?" Omega's only answer was silence, but Chaos knew his now-sister for longer than they had been on this planet. If an insignificant strand had been broken she wouldn't have activated the failsafe. For that to happen, there was only strand that could have been broken.

That of Gaia's Champion.

"We're doomed." He said simply. Omega couldn't help but agree.

They must have sat there in dumbstruck horror for at least an hour before Chaos resolutely got up and offered his hand to his sister. Omega took it and stood up with him, swaying from the effects of alcohol she had unwittingly drunk.

"We'll wait until you sober up. And _then_ we're going back in there and you're going to _fix this before the Creator notices!_ They have fourteen other creations like us, if They are mad enough They might just decide we're not worth keeping if They find out."

Omega paled. "But, how? I don't-"

"You just broke one strand, right? And if I remember the failsafe protocols correctly, the first level doesn't alert the Creator and stops the flow of other strings until the one broken reconnects again. We just have to make sure that it reconnects in as similar a path as the last time. Can you do that?"

Faced with certain destruction otherwise and Chaos' stern face, even Omega's drunken mind knew there was only one answer. "I can try."

"Good enough for now." Chaos sighed. "But you're not going back in there until there is not a _drop_ of alcohol left in you!"

 _And what of the tiny strand the broken half attached itself to?_

* * *

 _AN: Apparently I'm unable to write a non-time-travel story anymore. Sigh, I have a seriously one-track mind.  
_


	2. The Strand that has Broken

_Author's note: So, my Beta is still sick, my friends are still gone, my parents are still nowhere to be seen. But now my pizza has gone cold, my beer is gone and my laptop is running at 5% battery capacity. And what do I do about it? I plug in my laptop and continue typing._

 _God, Spring break is supposed to be the time to invent a social life, not lose it!_

* * *

Angrboða had been sixteen when she ran from home whose name she swore would never touch her lips again, running in fear for the life of the one she carried under her heart.

As it turned out, the outcome would have been no different had she stayed back at her home. While the doctor had confirmed her three weeks pregnant, after merely two weeks of exile her monthly blood had flowed again, confirming that her one and only encounter had not been anything more than that. She was not pregnant. Never had been.

But she couldn't go back, not after she had disgraced her family by running away like that. Left with no other choice but to go forwards, that was where she went.

She ended up in Nibelheim, a village she chose by randomly stabbing a pin on the world map. She had lied and said her parents had died, leaving her with nothing in the world. The village people were nice enough, and the Mayor had even offered her to stay with him and his expecting wife in their house until one could be built for her. She would have to live alone, they said, but they would help her in the beginning.

When they asked, she lied again and said her last name was Strife. She thought it appropriate to tack it to her name, a hidden mocking to the name her unloving parents had given her. The villagers didn't see it, as they didn't speak the Old Tongue but she didn't need them to.

Within a month, the entire village was charmed by the polite yet tragic girl who had so bravely withstood the loss of her parents. She apprenticed under the local seamstress, who couldn't praise her beautiful embroidery enough. She lived by herself in a small but homey house, she was good friends with the Major's wife and often babysat their cute daughter.

Her life was definitely better here, and maybe even happier. But every time she played with Tifa, fed her from the bottle and spoke nonsense to her that made her laugh, she couldn't help but think of the child she might have had. What would it be like, to have a baby of her own? She definitely wouldn't be so welcome here if she had come pregnant with a bastard child, but still… She felt she was missing something in her life, and she had no idea how to fill that void.

 _("Rousing her maternal instincts? That's your plan?")_

 _("Shut up and keep looking where his soul ended up.")_

One evening, when she had been returning to her home, she heard a strange high pitched sound coming from behind her house. Curious, she walked through her house and when she opened the doors to her backyard she was met with a heartbreaking sight.

It was a wolf pup, so young and so small it would have fit into her arms if she tried to lift him up. Its fur was a strange shade of golden, more similar in color to a Chocobo than the one his parents must have been. Its similarity to an edible bird was possibly the cause of the nasty gash the pup sprouted on its flank. It was panting in pain, and upon seeing her, in fear as well. He whimpered and tried to scoot away but he clearly couldn't walk on his left hind leg.

Angrboða's heart broke at the sight. To see a baby, even a wolf one, abandoned and suffering like that pulled her heartstrings painfully. She walked up to it slowly but it only whimpered louder and doubled its efforts.

"Shh, shh, it's alright, I'm not gonna hurt you." She kneeled on the ground and approached it slowly. It was still whimpering and its tail was tucked firmly between his legs but it wasn't trying to run away anymore. Angrboða told herself it was because she didn't seem threatening and not because he had given up trying to run.

Cautiously, she gave him a hand to sniff. She knew wolves were different from dogs but she didn't know how to treat a wolf. But the pup looked at her hand cautiously for a moment then gave it a tentative sniff. Then another one. And then he licked her palm.

Angrboða sighed in relief. Okay, maybe she could do this. "Come on little one," she cooed as she stroked back his ears, "Let's get you inside and stitch that up."

Still on her knees Angrboða cautiously slid her arms under the golden pup. It looked alarmed for a moment and whimpered that high pitched cry again but otherwise didn't resist. She made sure she wasn't touching his injured leg as she carried him back to her house and deposited him on the couch. That done she went for a few dishrags and a bowl to fill it with water. She knew there was still water in her teapot, and even if it was pretty cold by now it had been boiled and that was what counted. She poured it into the basin she found and put the kettle to boil again.

The pup she rescued was still where she had left him. He was trying to lick his wounds but kept flinching as he did. Angrboða put the basin and the washcloths on the floor. She dipped them in the basin and wrung them out. The wolf pup followed her movements with something that was half wariness and half curiosity. But as soon as the rag touched its wounds he whimpered again and tried to kick it away.

"Shh, it's okay, this will help you." She tried to assure him but she ended up having to hold his leg down while she cleaned it. It turned out that it looked worse than it was and that the real problem were the purple bruises she noticed under the wet fur. But as long as he didn't lick the wound and stayed off his leg for a few days he would be alright.

Easier said than done. The second she stopped cleaning his wound he tried to lick it clean himself. Which prompted another round of flinch-and-whimper. In the end Angrboða resorted to wrapping it. The wound thankfully didn't need stitching so the bandages would keep it clean, even if the pup was hell-bent on tearing it away.

"I can't just keep calling you 'pup'." Angrboða mused as she tied the bandages tight enough so they couldn't be torn away by insistent baby teeth. "But, you know what? You can stay here with me. I live alone so there would be plenty of room for you."

She scratched him behind the ears. The little wolf made a happy face and wagged his tail. And yes, it was _his_ tail, she checked while she had been wrapping his leg. "So, a name?"

She thought about it, but she didn't want to give him some random nor cliché, like Fido. That would be downright insulting to a wolf. Though admittedly, he didn't look like a big fearsome predator with his tail wagging full speed and his tongue lolling out of his mouth in pleasure as she scratched his ears.

No, he was no fearsome wolf yet. But he would be. And so Angrboða thought of the perfect name for him.

 _("He is still Creator's champion, he still has to fulfill his destiny.")_

"You will be Fenrir." She whispered, almost a promise, told in a voice that was not hers. "The God slayer."

Ignorant of the plan the cosmos had for him, Fenrir slept on Angrboða's couch, not knowing how his life was going to change and, for the moment, not caring in the least.

* * *

The mayor stared. Fenrir stared back. "Angie, can you repeat that?"

Angrboða sighed. "I found him in my flowerbed injured and brought him home. I wanted to ask if I could keep him."

"He's a wolf! A Nibel Wolf at that!" Mayor Lockhart exclaimed in horror. "You aren't from these parts so I don't expect you to know, but they are vicious predators! There is no way you would be able to keep one in the village! Especially when he grows up! These things can reach up to _six feet!_ He will eat you live before you realize it!"

And on and on he went how Fenrir shouldn't even be in the village, much less inside anyone's house. Fenrir got bored rather quickly and started looking around. They were in the Mayor's house, and though Fenrir didn't really comprehend what a 'house' was, he figured it was some kind of human den, but much bigger than the den his parents shared. This 'Mayor' figure was the alpha of this human pack, and the nice she-human that found him and took care of him had to ask for his permission to adopt him into the pack. He had even been named! He hadn't had a name back in his pack as there had been seven pups in his litter and he had been the runt. Without the means to feed all seven pups sufficiently his father had chased him away. Rather harshly at that.

He had ran as far as he could from his den. It was winter and he was smart enough to realize he wouldn't survive on his own. He was far too young to hunt, being only five weeks old, and without so much as source of warmth he had no chance of survival.

But the instinct to survive was driving him forward. Something, some unknown urge was telling him to go down the mountain, beyond the forest and towards the warmth that could be found there.

 _("Ha, found him!")_

 _("Good, we need to get him to Nibelheim.")_

He found himself in a human dwelling. Before he had been chased away he had been told in no uncertain terms to never go anywhere near a human. They were easily recognizable because they wore the fur of their prey and walked on two legs all the time. They had sounded like such terrifying creatures that Fenrir had almost turned tail and ran, his hurt leg be damned!

But that warmth was so inviting he hadn't resisted its call. He had curled up in the dirt behind one wooden den and tried to lick the wound his father had given him. But it burned so much he simply couldn't keep quiet. He had tried but the she-human must have heard him because the next thing he knew she was next to him.

He had expected to be eaten, not picked up, taken care of and fed. The nice she-human even gave him milk when she realized he couldn't eat meat yet! It tasted a little strange but Fenrir had been so hungry he hadn't cared.

Now that his wounds were sufficiently healed she had taken him to the Alpha, a human called Mayor, and his mate, who hadn't barked so much as a yip yet. So far Mayor was howling a lot but Fenrir couldn't understand a yip of it. He grew bored quickly and went to explore this strange den. It was bigger than the one the nice she-human had but that was to be expected.

He suddenly smelled something strangely familiar. Oh, he knew this scent! The Alpha had pups of his own! Eager to find himself a playmate Fenrir followed his nose up the odd, flat wooden branches, tail wagging at the thought. He found the source in a section of the den humans called a 'room'. The scent was coming from a strange nest in the middle. Did humans keep their young in nests, like birds? They were really weird. Fenrir trotted up to it but he was too short to see the pup in it. He propped himself on his hind legs and supporting himself he peered inside. But the strange nest tipped forward and he scrambled away quickly. Why was the nest swinging so weirdly? It didn't look safe at all.

The pup was definitely inside it. The rocking motions awoke it and it started making strange whimpers. For a moment Fenrir was afraid he had injured it. More careful this time he once again stood on his hind legs but this time hooked his front paws onto the edge of the nest to keep himself better balanced.

The strange human pup looked at him and stopped its cries. Fenrir gave it a tentative sniff, a little disappointed that it was still too young to play with. It was female, with a bit of dark fur on top of her head and the biggest and darkest eyes he had ever seen. Fenrir was no expert on human pups but the way she was cooing at him made him think she liked him. The thought made his tail wag in happiness. Perhaps he _had_ found himself a playmate, once she grew a little. But that was okay, he would wait.

She reached her chubby, clawless paws towards him. He licked it and she laughed. Fenrir's tongue started lolling in happiness. Yes, the wait would definitely be worth it.

* * *

"Dear," The mayor's wife finally put a stop to her husband's tirade. "You shouldn't judge before you even know someone."

"But it's a wolf!" The Mayor gave another cry of protest.

"He's still a pup!" Angrboða argued. "He had been with me for almost two days and he had been very well behaved and easy to train! He doesn't even pee on the floor anymore, though my flowerbed isn't too happy about it."

The Mayor's wife, Ayumi, laughed at that. "Well, _I'd_ like to get a bit better acquainted with him. So where is this pup of yours?"

All three adults looked around to see where the golden wolf pup had gone. And all three paled in unison when they realized he was nowhere in sight and they heard little Tifa waking up upstairs in the nursery.

They bolted up faster than the eye could follow and, to the horror of the adults, the door of the nursery was open. The images of red-stained sheets and bloody fangs dancing in front of her eyes Ayumi barged into the nursery first in a panic.

But instead of the horrific image she expected to see, she was greeted by the sound of a baby laughing and their missing golden puppy wagging his tail as he peered into little Tifa's crib.

Her husband had gotten a hot poker from the fireplace and looked ready to gut Fenrir with it but she stopped him in his path and shushed him. Fenrir noticed the adults and gave a happy bark, a silly doggy grin on his face as one of Tifa's pudgy hands was clamped around a piece of his spiky fur.

He couldn't have looked less threatening if he had worn a sign.

Angrboða laughed behind her hand. "Well, I don't think little Tifa would let him go now. They seem to have become fast friends."

Ayumi had to agree. Her husband looked like he wanted to protest again but she waved him off before he could get a word in. She walked to the crib and pulled Tifa up from it. Fenrir looked sad at the loss but she quickly set the baby down and his tail started going off at propeller speed again. At eleven months Tifa was already a master at crawling and wasted no time in getting to her furry friend. Fenrir barked happily and wagged his entire behind in the air, his legs in front of him in a universal 'play with me' gesture. Tifa was happy to oblige. Fenrir jumped around her, pushed his nose at her and licked her face while she tugged at his fur, clapped and laughed at him.

Even the Mayor had to admit it was cute sight, even though he tensed again every time Fenrir showed even a hint of teeth. But the pup knew not to bite its smaller companion.

He threw his hands up in the air in defeat. "Fine! He can stay. Just don't let them play unsupervised, and if he so much as nicks Tifa he's getting thrown out, clear?"

"Sure, sure." Angrboða nodded absently and went back to watching the babies play.

And so Fenrir came to live in Nibelheim. And Omega was satisfied.

* * *

 _AN: Okay, a few things to clear up here:_

 _1) Yes, Fenrir is Cloud, or at least his soul in the body of a wolf. Remember that tiny strand from the prologue? Yup, that wolf pup is it._

 _2) In the original Norse mythology Angrboða was the mother of Fenrir, and considering the original Cloud has named his bike like that I'm guessing he must have heard the tale from somewhere. When she said the name 'Strife' was an irony that's because her name means 'she who offers sorrow'. So basically, her whole name would be 'She who offers sorrow through strife'._

 _3) Yes, the peanut gallery are Omega and Chaos, giving a nudge here and there to make sure things go as they are supposed to. No, nobody can hear them except you readers, since they are over a thousand years in the future and messing up the past._


	3. At the Edge of Repeating History

_Author's note: Thank God for people on the other side of the globe still willing to talk to me!_

 _I have **SubZeroChimera** to thank for Beta-ing this story, while I spent the day watching old Captain Harlock episodes and drowning in beer. She's a peach. And a seriously awesome writer. Seriously, if it's raining outside and you're gloomy go read her stories and it will become sunny in no time. Just watch your spleen._

* * *

At first the people of Nibelheim were vary of having a wolf in their midst, even just a pup. They all grew up on tales of how bloodthirsty and vicious they were, and generations of brainwashing couldn't be erased simply by one wolf pup. Everyone was just waiting for him to grow up and become a bloodthirsty monster.

Except… He didn't.

Nibel wolves reached adulthood when they were a year old. When Fenrir was a year old he grew barely two inches and only became a little faster when he ran. Otherwise he remained unchanged. It caused more than one village elder to scratch their scalps in confusion.

 _("He needs to conform to his previous timeline.")_

For his part, Fenrir either didn't notice the villagers' scrutiny or simply didn't care. He had come to think of the nice she-human as Momma, the memories of his birth parents all but gone. He had stopped thinking of the people around them in wolf terms, ranking them as Alfa, Beta and Omega, and instead thought of them by their names and their profession. Instead of 'Alpha's mate', Tifa's mother became 'Mayor's wife', Tifa became 'friend' instead of 'packmate', and Tifa's father became 'Mayor' instead of 'Alpha', and so on.

It also unnerved said Mayor that Fenrir was smart. Far smarter than any wolf had the right to be. He understood what everybody around him was saying and responded accordingly. By the time he was four Angrboða didn't even have to read his favorite story book 'The Tales of Old' to him, just turn the pages. At first she had told herself that it was just her imagination, because there was no way a wolf could read, no matter how smart Fenrir happened to be. But after she caught him carefully turning the pages of her books with his snout and actually reading them, she had to make peace with the truth.

Fenrir was no ordinary wolf.

Tifa, Gaia bless her, was his only friend. She too realized that Fenrir was inordinately smart, but unlike his Momma, she didn't seem bothered by it in the least. She taught him how to play checkers instead, showing him how to push the different colored disks with the tip of his middle claw. The two of them spent many a rainy afternoon playing it, and even though Ayumi knew of their activities Tifa always pretended to be playing by herself whenever the Mayor came by.

"Okay," she moved her own red piece, capturing one of Fenrir's. "Your turn."

Fenrir captured one of hers, and Tifa dutifully removed it from the board, since he couldn't do so himself. The sad thing was, he was actually winning.

"You make me feel stupid." Tifa complained as Fenrir captured her last piece. He just offered her a doggy grin in response and thumped his tail on the floor a few times. Tifa sighed and started putting away the board and the pieces. "Let's go play outside, maybe this time the others will let you join."

Fenrir didn't really want to go out and play with the other Nibelheim children, but Tifa had always liked hanging out with them so he endured them for her. Tifa had argued and fought and stomped her feet trying to make them understand that Fenrir wasn't dangerous, but to no avail. It didn't help that the one time they let Fenrir play soccer with them, he and Tifa not only won the game but owned it. Apparently the boys didn't take well to being defeated by a girl and her dog. To be blunt, he had actually stopped trying to fit in a long time ago, making peace with the fact that he was different, but Tifa still held out hope.

So Fenrir usually followed his only friend out and waited until she was immersed in whatever game her peers concocted before silently slinking away back to his house. His momma would greet him with a scratch to his ear, which never failed to make his tongue loll and his tail wag, then she would serve dinner. Fenrir had long ago mastered sitting on the chair with his paws tucked in and eating from the bowl on the table.

"Did you have fun with Tifa today?" Angrboða would always ask once their meal was finished. Fenrir nodded enthusiastically. His momma smiled.

"Did you play checkers again?" Another nod.

"How many times did you win?" Fenrir thumped his tail on the chair three times.

"Three? You're getting better and better at it! Did the Mayor see you?" A shake of the furry head.

"Good, and let's keep it that way. The old man is paranoid enough." She stood up from her chair. "Well, I have to go to work now. You can watch some TV."

'You can watch some TV' were some of Fenrir's favorite words. He leapt off his seat and straight for the couch, not looking to see if he accidentally overturned his chair. He carefully pressed the power button with his middle claw, just as Tifa had showed him, and there on the black and white screen was his hero.

Sephiroth.

Fenrir had been absolutely fascinated with the young SOLDIER fast ascending the ranks ever since he had seen his face in the newspaper. Well, to be more accurate, since he saw his _eyes._ While Sephiroth was no wolf, he was still different and yet he was already so accomplished. Not for the first time Fenrir wished he could speak the human tongue, to ask about this Boy Wonder and talk to him, and maybe they could come to understand each other, two outcasts who came to glory.

But it was only wishful thinking, and Fenrir knew it. He knew he would never be able to leave Nibelheim.

But Omega had different plans.

The moment every villager feared came when Fenrir was 8 years old: he grew up. Physically at least. Almost out of nowhere he shot up to five feet tall at the shoulder. And he very quickly realized that his Momma couldn't afford to feed him anymore. It also took him very little to realize he had very sharp teeth.

When he first ventured into the Nibel forests looking for food he had the luck to run into a Bahba Velamyu. They were relatively weak and a staple in the diet of a normal Nibel wolf, even if they were more teeth than meat. It was also dumb enough to try and fight him instead of run. Its attacks were mostly useless as Fenrir didn't use any magic, and even with his nonexistent experience he made short work of the monster.

It was nowhere near as tasty as the food his momma prepared, but there was a certain thrill to devouring something he caught with his own teeth. Knowing he was covered with purple blood he found a spring to wash. He often came to this spring to bathe even though his momma insisted on giving him a proper bath every once in a while too. But Fenrir much preferred the spring, and not just because it held a faint but pretty green glow. The water in it was much tastier too.

Actually, it was because sometimes he could see his reflection differently in it. Sometimes, when he looked into it, he imagined what he would look like as a human. He would still have his spiky golden fur, but only on top of his head. His eyes would still be blue, like his momma's. Maybe he would take after her, or maybe his father, whoever that would have been if he had been born a human.

But thinking of what could have been only left him feeling depressed.

Angrboða of course noticed that something was wrong. Fenrir, who should have been eating like three adult men, barely even sniffed at what she put on the table. She never asked though. Perhaps it was because deep down she already knew the answer or perhaps because she saw monster blood on his fur sometimes, she didn't know. So she stopped serving him food regularly and stridently ignored the comments of how the amount of monster roaming around the edge of the village had drastically lessened.

In the following months Fenrir ventured farther from the forests and into the mountains. The creatures were far more diverse there, and the Twin Brain was definitely tasty. He had become very skilled at hunting, and even though the villagers had no idea, he couldn't help but puff out his chest in pride every time the lack of monsters was mentioned.

But their idyllic life couldn't last. When tragedy strikes, it strikes where you least expected it to.

Tifa's mother died.

The girl was stricken with grief, that much was clear. Fenrir refused to leave her side for two days, until Mayor himself chased him out. Momma told him it was because he was sad, just like Tifa, and that he shouldn't take it to heart. Fenrir didn't know how to help in any other way though. How could he help when his friend lost her mother? He was just a wolf…

He was returning from his hunt a day later when he found Tifa and the other village children on the edge of the forest. It seemed Tifa was yelling something and the others were trying to dissuade her from whatever it was.

"I know she's there! I saw it in my dream! If I cross Mt. Nibel I'll find mama again!"

 _("The history has to repeat itself.")_

"But that's crazy Tifa!" One boy yelled. "And it's really dangerous! There are Dragons in those mountains!"

Well, he was right on that front. Fenrir sometimes saw them flying overhead when he hunted closer to the mountains. But Tifa was stubborn.

"Fine!" She stomped her foot like she always did when she was tired of the argument. "I'm going alone. You will all see when I bring her back!"

She turned on her heel and resolutely marched away. To Fenrir's horror, nobody tried to stop her. Didn't they know she was going straight towards her death? In his panic he ran towards her, barking to get her attention.

"Fenrir? What are you doing here?" He answered her by grabbing the hem of her dress with his teeth and pulling toward the direction of the village. Tifa frowned.

"I can't! Not without mama! She is on the other side of the mountain, I know it!" Her eyes turned pleading. She lifted her hands towards Fenrir's face and looked up at him with soulful eyes. There was nearly a foot of difference in height between them so Fenrir had to lower his head for her to reach him. "Please Fenrir. Wouldn't you do the same if Aunt Angie died?"

Fenrir paused. Then heaved a sigh, because she was right. If momma died he would cheat the Lifestream itself to get her back. How could he blame her for trying to do the same?

He couldn't.

But he would be damned if he let her go alone! He knew these mountains, had been hunting in them for nearly a year, he could be her guide. So he lowered himself on the ground and looked at her meaningfully. Tifa got the message and climbed onto his back, like he was a Chocobo. She had asked to ride him a few times before, back when he had first started growing so rapidly. Fenrir didn't mind but when the Mayor caught them he had expressly forbidden it, fearing what would happen to Tifa if Fenrir bucked her off.

But she still remembered how to ride him. She tucked in her knees, supporting herself with her thighs instead of sitting on him and fisted her hands in the skin of his neck. It was an easy grasping point as it was protected by loose skin and fat as a defense against rival wolves who would try to tear out his throat. But it served well for this purpose as well.

Fenrir's run was smooth and Tifa had no problems staying mounted. He was hoping to hurry and be there and back by sundown, before anyone in the village sounded the alarm that they were missing. Things were going smoothly until they came to the bridge. That was where Fenrir stopped.

"Why did you stop?" Tifa asked somewhere near his ear. He pointed at the suspension bridge with his snout. It was a rickety and rotten old thing: a disaster waiting to happen.

But Tifa was stubborn. "Well, thanks for giving me a ride to here. You can go back if you wish, I can continue on my own." She threw her leg over and slid off his back smoothly. Fenrir panicked again and blocked her path.

Tifa got the message. "I have to go! We came all the way here, I can't stop now! Look, if you're scared you can really go back. But I'm going to get my mama!"

Ah, the stubbornness of women. Fenrir figured this was what old man Johnson was muttering about on his porch all the time. Still, maybe there was a way to cross it more safely. He looked at Tifa with his ears and tail straight up in the air. There was only so much he could say with only body language but Tifa was very adept at reading him at this point.

"You want to show me something?" She tilted her head, waiting. Fenrir took it as his cue to demonstrate. He distanced himself a few paces then took a running leap over nothing. But Tifa understood, as she always did.

"You want to jump on the other side?" She asked in astonishment. Then looked at the distance between the two cliffs. "You sure you can do it?"

Fenrir nodded enthusiastically. He had done it before, though not over this particular cliff. Convinced, Tifa wasted no time in climbing on his back again. Fenrir distanced himself from the edge as far as he could. The more momentum he had the better. He intended to jump over the bridge, so in case he missed a meter or two he would have enough time to run over the bridge and to the other side before it collapsed.

Fenrir ran. And then jumped.

 _("This is not how it was supposed to go!")_

Later, Fenrir figured it was because he was unaccustomed to the extra weight of a passenger on his back. That was the only possible reason why he didn't jump far enough and instead of landing safely on the other side they ended up tangled up in the rope of the bridge. It gave out under them and Tifa's scream was the last thing he heard.

 _("History MUST repeat itself.")_

 _("Sorry kid, but there is no other way.")_

* * *

 _AN: Sigh, yet another few things to clarify...  
_

 _1) That green spring Cloud/Fenrir was drinking from was Mako, Omega's way of getting him enhanced to SOLDIER level without Hojo's intervention. Or, as my Beta Chimera said, "Omega you little shit". I kinda agree actually. I mean, anybody realize whose body she's wearing?_

 _2) I based Nibel Wolves on the extinct_ Canis Dirus, _or dire wolf which was the largest Canid we have evidence of. And for people who know more about wolves than I do, for the sake of this story, please don't correct me on any of this. My expertise lies firmly in the genetics department, and Quantum Mechanics in my Beta's. Ners', dunno 'bout Chimera._

 _Okay, I think I should stop it with the beer sometime about now. Aaaaany minute now..._


	4. Now it has Left the Cradle

_Author's note: Well, all my relatives have finally dispersed and gave me some time alone. And what do I do? Finish this chapter! I need to get my life back... And the professors are gonna chew my ass out tomorrow so please write something nice for my epitaph, please? Ners is still sick so she can't do it herself._

 _Well, this was once again Beta-d by **SubZeroChimera** , and I'm going to start calling her Chima because I'm a lazy bitch. She lasted much longer though. RLnera became Ners in two chapters._

* * *

When Fenrir awoke it was to a crushing pain in his chest and a strange weight across his tail. With something in between a whine and a groan he struggled to his feet, wheezing with pain. He was relatively certain his ribs weren't broken but they were definitely bruised, maybe even cracked considering how hard it was to breathe. All four of his legs ached as well, having absorbed most of the fall.

He was cut out of his musings by a weak moan of pain.

 _Tifa!_ Fenrir abruptly turned to the side only to see his friend unconscious and bleeding.

 _Please be okay, please be okay,_ Fenrir prayed. He nudged Tifa's arm with his snout, hoping for a reaction. There was none. She was badly injured; there was blood oozing across her forehead, and he could barely hear her heartbeat.

She was going to die.

Grief overwhelmed his chest. This must be what Tifa felt like when she lost her mother. But this crushing pain that had nothing to do with bruised ribs was eating from the inside out. It was his fault. His fault Tifa wouldn't make it! _How could he have been so stupid?!_

Not even knowing why, he Howled at the night sky.

Back in the village every head turned towards Mt. Nibel upon hearing the pained cry. Angrboða dropped the basket of clothes she had been holding.

"Fenrir!" She ignored the villagers behind her and ran towards the mountain, praying for her baby's well-being. The search party that had been assembling to go find Tifa collectively paled and ran after her.

Fenrir finally ran out of breath and looked down at his friend. His friend, who he had now lost. He nuzzled her face, whimpering in sadness. Soon she would be lost to him. Suddenly a strange light appeared out of nowhere, sparkling yellow, and descended on Tifa. Fenrir watched in shock as it engulfed the girl's body and then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it faded away.

Tifa opened her eyes.

"Fen?" She asked groggily, attempting to pull herself up. Fenrir slipped her arm over his head and helped her up. She groaned again and leaned her weight on him. "What happened?"

All of his joy drained out of him faster than water in the sink. With his tail between his legs and ears flat against his head he looked up. Tifa followed the line of his snout and saw the broken bridge. "We fell?"

Fenrir nodded dejectedly. Tifa looked sad, but not angry. After a few minutes of silence she scratched him behind the left ear. "It's okay Fen, you tried. If I wasn't weighting you down you would have probably made it."

Those words didn't placate him in the least. Tifa was still looking at the ground in defeat so he nudged her with his nose. She turned to him with tears in her eyes. "We could have died."

Fenrir flinched, thinking it was an accusation but then she threw her arms around his neck and held on for dear life. "How could I be so selfish?" She sobbed into his fur. "I could have lost you too, just because I couldn't accept the fact that mama is gone! I'm so sorry Fenrir, I'm so sorry! I never meant for you to get hurt!"

For a minute Fenrir could just sit there with Tifa's arms around him in dumbfounded silence. Tifa was apologizing to _him?_ He was the one that sent them tumbling down almost to their deaths! But Tifa was still crying and without the ability to speak the only thing he could do was wrap his front leg around her back, the closest thing to a hug his anatomy permitted him. Finally Tifa pulled away and wiped her tears away. Though her eyes were red and puffy she attempted to smile at him. "Let's go home."

Fenrir nodded and presented his back. Tifa was hesitant to climb on but Fenrir didn't trust whatever that strange light was that healed her. His aching legs and ribs could wait, Tifa's safety was more important and his expression brooked no argument. Eventually Tifa climbed on, recognizing a lost battle when she saw one. The walk back would have to be slower because Fenrir was in too much pain to run, but he estimated he had enough strength to get them back to the village.

As it turned out, he wouldn't have to. They were almost halfway there when they ran into a group of villagers led by the Mayor and Angrboða. When they spotted them they ran towards the children in relief.

Tifa's father fell to his knees and enveloped her into a bear hug. Tifa hugged him back and began apologizing but she was immediately shushed into silence. He knew why she went there, remembering the tale Ayumi had told her so long ago, but the only thing that mattered was that she was back safe and sound.

Of course, that was before he noticed the blood on her forehead.

"Fenrir!" Angrboða ran up to the wolf. He stood up on his hind legs and hooked his front paws onto her shoulders and she hugged him around the chest. He didn't even care that it only aggravated his bruises. His tail wagged a mile a minute with happiness at seeing his momma. The relief he felt was indescribable. Tifa was okay, his momma was here and they were going back home. Everything would be okay.

At least, that was what he thought until he heard the Mayor come into their house later that evening, screaming in outrage.

"It was his fault, no doubt about it!" He thundered straight into Angrboða's face. "The men went and checked, the rope bridge was broken! No doubt that stupid animal was too heavy for it! If Tifa went alone she would have been fine!"

"It was your daughter that got it into her head to go over it in the first place!" Angrboða stood her ground. "If he hadn't been there who do you think would have brought her back?! By the time you found her she would have been dead most likely!"

"Enough!" A fist crashed onto their tabletop. "I don't care what 'would have happened'; I only know what did happen! And I want that monster out of this village before morning!"

"You can't!" Angrboða hissed.

"Oh yes I can, I'm the Mayor, and what I say goes!" His mustache was speckled with saliva at this point. "And if I ever see that mutt anywhere near the village I'm going to shoot him!"

"Don't you dare Brian, don't you fucking dare!" Angrboða was screaming now too. "He saves your daughter and you banish him!? Is that how you repay your debts? And if it was his fault Tifa fell then whose fault it is she went there in the first place? When will you stop blaming everybody else for your own mistakes?!"

"Shut up!" The Mayor screamed and backhanded his momma. She gave a short cry of pain and stumbled backwards.

Fenrir had killed monsters for less.

He jumped from his room with a mighty roar and knocked the assailant down on the ground. He stood on his chest as the prey struggled and trashed and screamed. Fenrir bared his fangs and growled. How dare he hurt his momma? He would get what he had coming for a long time!

"Fenrir, no!" Angrboða got her wits together just in time to grab Fenrir and pull him away by his fur. He didn't understand why she was defending this man but he stopped growling and let himself be pulled off the Mayor.

The man scrambled backwards, his shirt torn and bloody from Fenrir's claws. " _See?!_ This is what I was talking about! That thing is a danger to every person in this village! He probably attacked Tifa as well!"

Fenrir growled at him. How dare he accuse him of attacking Tifa!? The Mayor flinched and stumbled backwards. He finally managed to stand up and turned towards the door. "If that thing isn't gone by morning, I'm organizing a hunt."

He slammed the door on the way out.

As soon as he was gone Angrboða fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around Fenrir, her eyes tearing up. "Oh my baby, I'm so sorry."

Why was everybody apologizing to him lately? He hugged her just like Tifa and let her cry in his fur. After a few minutes she let go and wiped her tears. "You can't stay."

Fenrir whimpered in confusion. His momma gripped the fur on his face, making sure he was looking her in the eyes. "You heard him; if you stay here he will kill you. Maybe you can defend yourself from him, but he will not come alone!" Her eyes were tearing up again. "Please baby, please run. I couldn't bear to see you hurt. You must go, you are smart and capable, I know you will be fine. But please run as far away from here as you can."

Fenrir shook her hands from his face. Go? Where in the world would he go? He was born here; Nibelheim was the only thing he knew, the only place he had ever known!

Suddenly there was loud banging on their front door. Angrboða looked at it in fear. "They are here already. Come on!"

She all but dragged Fenrir towards the back door and opened it for him. "Please Fenrir, you have to leave." She pleaded when she saw him hesitating.

"Open the door Angie, it's just the mutt we want!" Someone from the other side of the house yelled. Angrboða kneeled next to her boy, more a son than a pet. "Please. You will come back one day, won't you? When you become strong, so strong that nobody would dare say a word against you. Like Sephiroth, remember?"

Fenrir blinked. Like Sephiroth? Could he really be as strong as his hero?

His momma must have read his mind, because she smiled through her tears. "You will be as strong as him, stronger even! And when that day comes you will come back to visit your momma, right? I will be waiting for you here, always."

A sharp crash at their door alerted them that their time was running short. Angrboða turned to Fenrir again. "Please, run now so you could fight later. You are still young, when you are big and strong you will show them what you're really worth. But until that day, you have to run. Run, and be safe so you can come back."

Fenrir still wasn't certain he completely understood, but when their front doors crashed open and the angry faces of villagers were at the door, yelling "Get him!".

Fenrir ran.

Thankfully he had always been a fast healer. He could barely feel the pull of his bruised ribs as he ran and the adrenaline took care of the pain in his legs. He didn't even know where he was supposed to run, just that he was supposed to get away.

"Fenrir, wait!" He stopped abruptly when he heard Tifa's voice. She was standing on the edge of the village and when she spotted him she ran towards him, "Please wait, you don't have to go! I can talk to father, I can make it right!"

"There he is!" From the other side one of the villagers with a pitchfork in his hand pointed at him. One of the others was stopping his momma from running towards him.

"Fenrir, wait, please!" Tifa screamed from one end.

"Run Fenrir, run!" His momma screamed from the other.

"Get him!" The villagers were approaching fast.

Fenrir ran. But he had no idea where to.

 _("It is not time yet.")_

He ran West.

* * *

He ran until he hit the mountains. His legs were aching like never before and he was really feeling the strain of his bruises now. He was hungry, he was tired and he was all around in a pretty shitty state. Now that the adrenaline rush finally subsided and he dug a hole in the underbrush he could crawl into and sleep, everything hit him like a sledgehammer.

He was banished from his home for a crime he didn't commit. Hell, a crime that only existed in the Mayor's head! Tifa was fine, though he wasn't sure how, but now he would probably never see her again. He would probably never see his momma again either.

For the first time as far as he could remember, Fenrir cried. Cried for his loss, his pain and those dear to him. How was he supposed to get strong enough that the entire village with shotguns wouldn't go against him? He was just a wolf; he couldn't join SOLDIER like Sephiroth and go home a hero.

Just a wolf, who had lost his pack. Lost and alone.

Fenrir slept, wondering if he would still be Fenrir in the morning.

When he awoke he felt no pain but the one in his stomach. Luckily for him, there was a Valron poking with a tip of its wing, trying to decide if he was dead enough to eat.

Fenrir tore out its throat before it even realized he was awake.

Next order of business was to find a spring or a stream to wash in. When he went up into the mountains he found a stream, but this one was only water. Then again, the only spring with green water he had ever seen was the one back home. He supposed they were rare since he hadn't found any other like it.

As he hit the top of the mountain he spotted something in the distance. Another village! This one seemed bigger than Nibelheim even! Fenrir wagged his tail. Maybe he would have better luck fitting in there!

Without a second thought he ran towards the new village. It took him almost a day of constant running to get there but in his excitement he forgot to feel tired. But it never hurt to be cautious. He slunk quietly towards someone's back lawn and peered around. It was evening so there weren't many humans around but there were some still milling about. One of them was the owner of the house, who was sitting on the front porch with a bunch of scattered papers with weird drawings on them. He was smoking something Fenrir vaguely recalled was called a cigar.

Cautiously, he approached the human. He didn't notice the wolf approaching him at all. Fenrir tilted his head. How could this human be so clueless?

"Shera!" The smoking human suddenly bellowed. "Where's tha blueprint number 15?"

Fenrir had no idea who this Shera was, but he did notice a blue paper that had the number 15 stamped in the upper right corner. He took it cautiously in his maw, mindful of his teeth and drool, and waved it at the man's shoulder.

"Ah, there it i-" The man stopped in the middle of his sentence when he noticed just who handed him the blueprint. Fenrir sat on his behind and his tail curled. The strange human looked him up and down, so Fenrir sat very still, hoping to pass whatever inspection the man was doing.

The strange human, who Fenrir now noticed had yellow fur and blue eyes just like him, grinned. "Okay, ah give up. Are ya suppos'ta be a Chocobo or a wolf?"

For some reason, Fenrir got the feeling he was being insulted.

* * *

AN: Aaaaand, yet more things to be explained. Does that mean I'm a bad writer?

1) When Fenrir revived Tifa you might have noticed I wrote howling with a capital H. Those who have played the game a bit more recently remember Nibel Wolves have the _Howling_ ability which enables them to awaken a KO'd ally and restore them to full health. We might as well give Cloudy some perks to his new form.

2)Yep, Cloudy found Cid. At first I wanted him to go straight to Midgar. Then I remembered that Midgar's on another continent. So yeah, it was either Cid in Rocket Town or Barrett in Corel. Cid kinda has air transport and probably an office at ShinRa so Cid won.

Enjoy you guys, and happy Easter once again!


End file.
